Help to much information

[jessica5254]

I just bought my first dairy goats. Three Nigerian dwarf females. One is 5 months old, and I have a mama and her 8 day old doeling. I have done so much research online I think I have tooo much info. I am scared about coccidia. What vaccinations are necessary? I plan on giving cdt, tetnus and already have a worming schedule. I have had goats in the past but as pets and would like some input from actual people. there is soooo much info out there it is overwhelming.

 

[ksalvagno]

CDT already has tetanus in it so you don't need to do an additional tetanus shot.

If your goats get loose stool, take a stool sample in (or learn how to do your own fecals) and have it tested for worms and coccidia. Then you can worm appropriately.

Sounds like you have it pretty well under control though.

 

[jessica5254]

Thanks for your input. I apppreciate it.

 

[glenolam]

The 5 month old should be treated for coddia starting as soon as you can (if you haven't already) and the two main types of drugs for that are Sulmet and DiMethox. Depending on who you talk to depends on who administers what and how much.

I use DiMethox 12.5% (ordered from Hoeggar's website) and administer it at 3 weeks of age, 6 weeks, then 9 weeks - 1 cc/5 lbs of body weight on day 1, then 1 cc/10lbs days 2 - 5.

Obviously, the 8 day old is too young to start this treatment, so wait a few weeks and start then.

The only other vaccination that is needed is CD&T given every 6 or 12 months (depending on if you are showing your goats or not). The CD&T vaccination also covers tetnus, so there's no need to look for 2 different vaccinations. You can usually get this at your local feed store and the dosage is usually 2 cc no matter the body weight.

Here's a link to a thread on this topic.

If you search on here for vaccinations or worming, you'll get plenty of info as well - just more to clog up that mind!

And ksalvagno was right - for worming, just bring a fecal sample to the vet to determine IF you have worms, and if so, WHAT kind.

Have fun!

 

[cmjust0]

I'd wait about a week from now and give them all C/D-T. Reason being, the baby kid could use it then and you may as well just do them all at once. Just to be on the safe side, I'd personally booster *all* of them four weeks after that and then go yearly.

As for coccidia...the mama doe is probably OK at this point in her life, but the 5mo old is kinda in that borderline area where there could still potentially be a problem.. If she's grown appropriately so far and seems in good condition, she's probably already got coccidia under control on her own; if she's a little thin or ribby or kinda small for her age, I'd go ahead and get her on a treatment regimen..

You'll want to get DiMethox on hand for the kid anyway within the next two weeks. I've been using the the 40% injectable as an oral drench, dosing at 1ml/15lbs, 1x/day for 5 days starting at three weeks of age and doing three total treatments on three week intervals....3wks, 6wks, 9wks. Seems to be working for me and it's only about $20 for a 250ml bottle....pretty cheap stuff.

As others have mentioned, you'll also want to evaluate your worm situation. The baby's going to be coming onto grass at a rough time of the year, because barberpole worms -- the most plentiful, the most pathogenic, and the hardest to kill of all worms -- are kicking it into warp speed right now in terms of egg production. That means they're cranking out lots of eggs, which lead to lots of larvae, which leads to heavy infestation, which leads to heavy blood consumption from the host, which leads to anemia and death..

If allowed to get out of control, anyway..

Mama and the 5mo could be the new kid's worst enemies right now, because they're the ones out there shedding all those eggs. Unless their lower inner eyelids are like salmon colored indicating hardly any worm burden...I'd personally go ahead and deworm just for the baby's sake.

That's me, though.

 

[jessica5254]

Thanks for all the GREAT info. Where do they sell DiMethox? Can you get it at tractor supply?

 

[glenolam]

DiMethox can be purchased at Hoeggars. There's also a few other good on-line goat stores.

I haven't seen it at Tractor Supply or my local farm stores, so I buy on-line.

 

[cmjust0]

Yeah, you usually have to get it online.. Jeffers livestock supply normally carries it, but the 40% injectable is on indefinite backorder right now. You could get the gallon jug, but it's $36 and they'll charge you freight on it...for me, the freight would be almost $14. So, $50/gal.

I dunno why I'm about to do this...probably because I've never done it before, but...let's do some math.

The gallon jug of 12.5% solution is 3.75g of dimethox per fl oz. Sooo...480,000mg of dimethox in the gallon jug. At $50, that's a few hundred-thousanths over $0.0001/mg.

There's no add'l freight on the 250ml injectable, and it's about $20...but it's 400mg per ml. So, 100,000mg of dimethox per vial. At $20, that's just about $0.0002/mg on the nose.

So even with freight, the gallon jug is still half the price per mg of the injectable.


With either option being so cheap and going so far, though...well, my goat medicine cabinet is crammed enough as it is, so I like my little vials. I also like not having to give more than maybe 3.5ml at a time to any given kid. To me, those factors still make the little vials worth the extra cost.

I just ordered another bottle...should be in today. I ended up getting mine from PBS Animal Health, but I could have gotten it from Valley Vet or Hoegger or a couple other supply houses.. Reason I got mine from PBS is because PBS also carries an old antibiotic called Gallimycin-100 I've been researching lately.. I have no use for the Gallimycin at present, but when it comes to my goat medicine cabinet.......uh, yeah......bit of a hoarder.

 

[PJisaMom]

You were so me a week ago... and I've calmed down... considerably. Everyone is right. I have found along this road that you make a decision on how you'd like to proceed and what will work for you and go from there.

I pretty much freaked out a few days before I got my goats (2 alpine wethers and a doe, all around 8 weeks at this point) and was *sure* I had killed them before they even arrived due to all that I read online.

About 4 days after they came "home" I started seeing some runny poops (just weaned/moved... I knew we were asking for it!) and onto Corid (all I could get my hands on around here at the time) and Vitamin B and Probios.... ordered DiMethox from PBS (Jeffers is backordered) and it arrived the next day! I am feeling better about my own "medicine" cabinet at this point.

Regardless... I'm not in any position to offer advice on what to do just yet, but I just wanted to let you know I HEAR YOU! Loud and clear!!!!

Good luck with your new additions!!!!!

Paula

 

[jessica5254]

Thanks soo much. I cant find any DiMethox around here, I am going to try the vet next andsee if they can order it for me, and maybe get out of the shipping fees. It is just a thought and it does not hurt to ask. None of my goats have runny poops. I have had for about a week now and seem to be adjusting well. I dont think they have had alot of human contact as they were very skittish, but the 8 day old and the 5 month old came around pretty fast. Mama on the other hand is taking some time. she will walk up to me now but if I reach out to pet her she runs. I hope she gets used to people and iit is not tooooo late for her. She is a really good mom and beautiful goat.